PS stands for Plain and Simple! I love writing stories to enhance reading of God's Word. The Holy Bible has always been transforming lives and penetrative to our inner souls where no other books can ever do. I desire every Christian to love God's Word as fresh bread from the oven of heaven!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

“Yes, Mrs. Skyler,”Alex shouts and does an army salute to her. Everyone’s favourite music teacher asks the class to be cautious of the finals and do more rehearsals. Meanwhile, Stephen, the twin brother of Alex, nervously walks out of the class. He has this unresolved inferiority issue within him, being overshadowed by his older extrovert twin brother.

“Eh..Hi, Mrs. Skyler, you are such an inspiration to me,”Alex makes a passing statement before escorting his ‘lil’ brother’ away. The teacher shakes her head at Alex’s overbearing attitude. She knows about his truant behaviour in many rehearsals she organises. Deep within her, she adores Stephen for his ‘trying my best’ spirit.

“Alex, how come I didn’t see you in the rehearsals these days? The finals are just around the corner,”Stephen nudges his brother. “Shhh..Don’t you let Dad know, Ok?”Alex quickly chips in. “Well, I am busy. Anyway, I have a couple of tunes embedded in my soul already. It will be enough for me to ‘distinct myself’, if you know what I mean,”he adds with much arrogance. Stephen thinks highly of his brother and secretly wishes he can be confident like him.

“Meanwhile Stephen, I don’t see any chance for you,”Alex quips. He loves to see Stephen’s unworthy facial expression. He does that often to Stephen and others just to keep himself more fire up. Sometimes, Stephen wishes that he had never taken music as his future career.

These finals will determine the students’ final push towards their career. Mrs. Skyler has had sleepless nights thinking about her beloved students, especially Stephen.

“I know you do not look highly of yourself in this Thursday’s finals but somehow I feel you have it in you,”she encourages Stephen in the teachers’ room.“You know what. I am not alone in this. The other teachers see it too,” she continues, speaking a little louder this time. Few teachers stand and agree with Mrs. Skyler. Stephen feels a little embarrassed but deeply encouraged. He still senses the anxiety within him but a tinge of excitement seems to appear from nowhere.

After the finals….

Mrs. Skyler looks satisfied and generally feels the performances went well. She is excited over Stephen’s playing. It was near perfection. She believes that all students must have a certain degree of anxiety in them to do well. Being too confident can be disastrous.

Alex cannot believe his eyes as he sees the red ink on his paper. Mrs. Skyler walks past and gently taps on his shoulder to console him. As his eyes turn as red as his grade, he catches hold of twin brother Stephen, smiling away. Sensing anger and embarrassment at the same time, Alex catches up with his teacher for answers to his predicament.

“Alex, I am sorry that you are being retained for another semester,”she says politely, doesn’t want to aggravate him further. “But I thought I played well,”Alex chips in angrily.

“It was a unanimous decision by all of us,” she responds.“Alex, you were playing but we felt the tunes were not embedded in your soul.”

The Parable of the Two Sons is recorded only in Matthew 21: 28-31.

Many of the parables where Jesus presented are to convey a strong message to those in authorities who think highly of themselves. This parable is spoken in respond to the chief priests and the elders who enquire about the authority of Jesus’ teachings (Matt. 21:23). Jesus chooses not to answer them, instead He puts the ball back to their court by asking them about John’s baptism, whether from heaven or from men. Jesus knows that they don’t believe in John the Baptist’s ministry. In fact they don’t want anything to do with Jesus who comes with the radical gospel. Fearing of losing more people to Jesus, they have to bite their tongues and swallow their pride to say, “We don’t know” (Matt. 21:27).

In other words, Jesus is trying to say to them, “If you guys don’t even believe in John the Baptist, how can you believe in what I am going to teach?”

Many Jewish people in Jesus’ days would say “Yes!” to him with their mouths but “My way or the highway!” in their hearts. They talk the talk but when it comes to walk the walk, they stop. Pride, legalistic mentality, or love for fame and glory may have blocked these from coming into the blessings of God. They are so full of themselves that they lose touch of what’s essential. Like the rich young ruler, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The rich think that they can buy themselves into heaven!

In contrast, many of those who think they are unworthy, “beating their chest and afraid even to look upward”, they are being touched by God. They are entering in busloads to the kingdom of Light, into the blessings of God. They may say, “No!” initially thinking they are not worthy but when they see the signs and wonders and genuine love of Christ, they believe wholeheartedly!

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:3).

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The crowd paves a narrow pathway for Andy, the self-appointed leader to inch through. The sturdy and maverick worker has joined the textile factory for many years. Although he is not so much a people person but he gets the job done. Lately, he has been complaining about being underpaid for all his worth.

Andy then motions for silence.“Mr. Shane, we demand an explanation for increasing the workforce when the company is not even expanding its business,”he clarifies angrily with the owner accompanying with loud yeses from the unruly demonstrators.“Our bonuses are getting lesser as more are called to work here. We have not seen much increase of our salary over the years,”Andy continues with his clear booming voice.

The always well-mannered bespectacled owner pats Andy’s shoulder to calm him down. He steps backward and gestures the crowd to stop hounding him.“Alright now,”Mr. Shane raises his voice.“You all should know the economic condition of our town. Many people need jobs to feed their families and let us be generous to them, shall we?”he adds with deep compassion.

“We can’t please everyone. Those who put in the effort here must be compensated accordingly,”Andy shoots back confidently. Loud cheers can be heard, approving the words of their leader.“You should know by now that your factory is sustained by all these workers who have worked hard for you,”he fires another bullet to his argument, gesturing to the crowd.

Meanwhile, Tommy watches from the other side decides to call the rest of the workers to protest against Andy and the uncompromising group.“I think we should be grateful that we still have jobs,”Tommy shouts across to the crowd.“We should be thankful to Mr. Shane for employing us.”

“Hey, Tommy, shut up!”a man shouts back. The tense atmosphere almost turns chaotic. Mr. Shane waves frantically to calm the situation but to no avail. He decides to throw a small sewing machine onto the floor, tearing it apart, successfully getting everyone’s attention.

“Enough!”the Boss thunders.“All these years, have I ever cheated on you guys? Have I not paid you on time? Did I not encourage you and give you leave when someone from your family needed help or was sick? Tell me, if I ever being tough on you?”he mutters frustratingly. “I treat you like family,”Mr. Shane adds, sensing anger rising from within him.

He goes into the office and takes out a stack of files.“You know what is inside of these files, guys?”he asks them.“It’s all the contracts you signed with me. Many of your contracts with me are almost completed waiting for renewal. Do you want me to be calculative with you?”

“You know what, Andy? Your contract expires tomorrow.”

The parable of the workers in the Vineyard is found only in Matthew 20:1-16.

At first look, the landowner seems to be unfair to some workers who toiled the whole day only to get the same pay as those who worked an hour. What if they have not known what is being given to the workers who only worked one hour? Surely they will be satisfied with their pay and perhaps thank God for the owner for such integrity. When they know about it, they begin to demand for more. They have lost sight of being grateful in getting work and pay to feed their family. Not only they have forgotten to thank the owner for giving them the work, they complain and accuse him of being unfair.

During the Harvest time in Jesus’ days, many day-workers will line themselves up on the streets waiting to be called to work in the Vineyard. Normally the strong ones will be hired while some return with no work, thus having difficulty to feed their families. Many plead for work while others agree to work for a little less. All these workers depend on generous land owners. Many wish they are hired by them for a longer period of time.

Jesus tells this parable in respond to the rich young man who smugly asked Him, “Teacher, what good things must I do to get eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16) This man thinks he has it all! He thinks he can even perform his way to heaven! But when comes to the crunch, he deserts Jesus and walks away disgraced. Jesus must have felt sorry for him. He has so much potential yet his eyes are on material things instead on the grace of God. He fails to realise that all his riches (no one knows how he got the wealth anyway) is given by God Himself!

And the disciples fumble too when they begin to demand what they would receive after giving everything away to be with Jesus! (Matthew 19:27) This prompts Jesus to reveal blessings to those who serve God wholeheartedly but the real issue with Him is not what they get with what they do. The real reason for telling this parable is to understand the grace of God given to them and being grateful to God for His generosity.

The rich young man has a wrong attitude and so do the poor disciples. The rich man thinks he will be the first to enter God's kingdom but turns out the other way round, last, if ever. The poor disciples if not careful may be like those first workers who think they deserve a higher pay. They go away angry with the generous land owners contrary to last workers who are so grateful to being called to work because of the circumstances that they are in. The first will be last and last, first or vice versa. And hence, the parable is spoken about people who have forgotten about being grateful to God. Those first workers whose attitude is unpleasing to the landowner, cut off ties with the one who chose to bless them with work in trying times.

Do the rich people thank God for their riches today? Do the servants of God understand that it is a privilege to be given opportunity to serve the King of all kings? Let the sons and daughters of the gracious King be thankful for their salvation and be appreciative of the call of God to serve. Let us also rejoice when others are blessed by the generous God too.

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About Me

My name is Ronnie Ding. I was born in Sitiawan, Perak, Malaysia. My hometown was blessed when renowned Christian Leader Watchman Nee from China started a church there and later, evangelist John Sung came. Studied in Bible College of Malaysia. I love Jesus above everything else. I believe Bible as God's living Word, fresh for all generation! If any names appeared in any stories written in this blog being identical to anyone, they are purely coincidental. All comments in this blog will be promptly replied except those really offensive ones.